Working for the Japanese: Myths and Realities

Basing her research on interviews with over 100 British managers and executives, the author attempts to reveal what it is really like to work for a Japanese company. Constant exposure in the media has produced a number of now cliched beliefs about Japanese companies in Britain – that they are obsessed with long-term planning, that they carry out consensus decision-making, that all the senior positions are filled by Japanese, that all decisions are made in Tokyo, and that British executives (together with their Japanese colleagues) are expected to wear uniforms, sing the company song and do exercises in the morning. She questions the validity of these “myths” suggesting that what may be true about Japanese companies in Japan is not necessarily true about Japanese companies in Britain, and that the Japanese show a remarkable flexibility and adaptability to local conditions.